GOD’S tools can do nothing without Him. There is hard work to be done for the kingdom of Heaven and we each have our share in it, but not one of us can do without the others, and, above all, not one of us has any power except we are held by His hand.
Let us look into the basket.... The Vice... can do nothing of itself, but can only hold the wood firmly fixed while another instrument... does all the actual work.... Surely souls like this are of great value; they cannot leave home or undertake any great work themselves, but they make it possible for others to do so....
The... Saw.... The work consists in small efforts countlessly repeated, which in time can wear away the hardest wood.... “Let us not be weary in well-doing.” I think a large proportion of Christian activity is saving.... When the Divine Hand holds and directs the Saw, a change is really effected in human hearts and lives.
The... Gimlet... can only make a hole.... After the strenuous effort of a single minute it is thrown aside, while a shining screw occupies with dignity the hole it could not have made for itself. A second quiet little servant, the Screw-driver, is needed to pursuade it home to its appointed place; it is then laid down again while the Screw has a permanent position to fill. We who teach know something of the work of the Gimlet and the Screw-driver.
C.L.M.